Which one of the following best describes BRICS?
- (a)A group of five nuclear powers
- (b)A group of five industrialized nations
- (c)A group of five major emerging economies
- (d)A group of five potentially strong UN Security Council members from the Countries of the Global South
Correct — C, A group of five major emerging economies. At the time of this paper BRICS had exactly five members — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — and what held them together was economic size and trajectory rather than any military, industrial or institutional common denominator. The acronym itself began as BRIC, coined by the economist Jim O'Neill in 2001 to label four large emerging markets he expected to dominate future growth; the grouping turned itself into a real diplomatic forum with its first leaders' summit in 2009, and South Africa joined in December 2010, which is when the final S was added.
- (a)A group of five nuclear powers — Nuclear weapons are not the organising principle and the arithmetic does not work either. Russia, China and India hold them; Brazil and South Africa do not, and South Africa is the one country in the world to have built nuclear weapons and then dismantled them.
- (b)A group of five industrialized nations — Industrialised is precisely the wrong word. The grouping's whole premise is that these are economies still converging, not members of the club of mature industrial economies that the G7 or the OECD represent.
- (d)A group of five potentially strong UN Security Council members from the Countries of the Global South — Two of the five, Russia and China, are already permanent members of the Security Council with the veto, so describing all five as potential members is simply inaccurate. Security Council reform is discussed at BRICS summits, but it is not what the grouping is.
BRICS is an intergovernmental grouping of major emerging economies that coordinates on economic and political questions and runs institutions of its own, chiefly the New Development Bank, headquartered in Shanghai, and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement. It has no charter, no secretariat in the manner of a formal international organisation and no binding decisions; the chair rotates and the annual summit is its main instrument.
The question is answered by asking what the five countries of 2022 actually had in common. Not nuclear status, not industrial maturity, not their position at the United Nations — only scale and growth. The wording of option (d) is the interesting distractor because it is half true in spirit: BRICS declarations do call for a more representative Security Council, and India, Brazil and South Africa are indeed aspirants. It fails because it describes all five that way when two already sit there permanently. Since the exam the count in the stem has gone out of date. Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates became members on 1 January 2024 and Indonesia on 6 January 2025, taking the grouping to ten; Saudi Arabia was invited in the 2024 round but did not join as planned. The description major emerging economies still fits — the number five does not.
- BRIC was coined by Jim O'Neill in 2001 for Brazil, Russia, India and China as emerging markets; the first leaders' summit was held in 2009.
- South Africa joined on 24 December 2010, and the grouping became BRICS.
- Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates joined as full members on 1 January 2024.
- Indonesia joined on 6 January 2025, the first Southeast Asian member, taking the count to ten; Saudi Arabia was invited but did not join at the start of 2024 as had been planned.
- The grouping's institutions include the New Development Bank and the Contingent Reserve Arrangement.
The description in the answer has held; the number in it has not.
- Reading BRICS as an industrialised-country club rather than an emerging-economy one.
- Assuming all its members are or aspire to be permanent members of the Security Council.
- Carrying the number five into a post-2024 answer — membership reached ten in January 2025.
As a best-description item, as a statements question on summits and membership order, or through the institutions the grouping has created.
With reference to a grouping of countries known as BRICS, consider the following statements : 1. The First Summit of BRICS was held in Rio de Janeiro in 2009. 2. South Africa was the last to join the BRICS grouping. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer(b) 2 only
The membership history behind the description. South Africa was indeed the last to join at the time it was set, which is what made the grouping a five for the years covering the 2022 CDS paper.
Consider the following statements with regard to BRICS: I. 16th BRICS Summit was held under the Chairship of Russia in Kazan. II. Indonesia has become a full member of BRICS. III. The theme of the 16th BRICS Summit was Strengthening Multiculturalism for Just Global Development and Security. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) I and II
- (b) II and III
- (c) I and III only
- (d) I only
Answer(a) I and II
The update to this question. By the time UPSC asked about BRICS in 2025 the grouping had taken in Indonesia as its tenth member, so the count of five in the 2022 stem belongs to that year and not to the present.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The New Development Bank, established by the BRICS countries, is headquartered in
- (a)New Delhi
- (b)Shanghai
- (c)Moscow
- (d)Johannesburg
Answer(b) Shanghai — the bank was agreed at the Fortaleza summit of 2014 and has its headquarters in Shanghai.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which country became the first Southeast Asian full member of BRICS?
- (a)Malaysia
- (b)Thailand
- (c)Vietnam
- (d)Indonesia
Answer(d) Indonesia — admitted as a full member on 6 January 2025.